The WSOP always sees more than a few incredible hands and yesterday it was AA vs KK vs QQ that grabbed the headlines – especially because it saw poker heavyweights Justin Bonomo, Ike Haxton, and Jason Koon pitted against each other!
Event #55: $250,000 Super High Roller No-Limit Hold’em
The hand saw Haxton flat after Koon 3-bet Bonomo’s open, Bonomo ratcheting up the price by re-entering the raising wars. His 4-bet was met by Koon’s 5-bet and a Haxton 6-bet shove, two calls finally ending the betting action, Bonomo and Haxton at risk…
Justin Bonomo: A♣ A♦
Isaac Haxton: K♦ K♥
Jason Koon: Q♦ Q♥
Flop: J♦ 3♥ 8♠
Turn: 3♠
River: A♠
The triple up saw Bonomo end the day with a healthy stack, Koon soon rebuying and bagging a top 10 stack as 58 entries were reduced to 45 players on day 1, led by Sean Winter.
Top Ten Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | |
| 1 | Sean Winter | USA | 4,475,000 | |
| 2 | Adrian Mateos | Spain | 4,210,000 | |
| 3 | Aram Oganyan | USA | 3,935,000 | |
| 4 | Jonathan Jaffe | USA | 3,395,000 | |
| 5 | Alex Kulev | Bulgaria | 3,020,000 | |
| 6 | Leon Sturm | Germany | 2,960,000 | |
| 7 | Jason Koon | USA | 2,830,000 | |
| 8 | Santhosh Suvarna | India | 2,720,000 | |
| 9 | Chance Kornuth | USA | 2,690,000 | |
| 10 | Justin Saliba | USA | 2,670,000 |
Day 25 saw three bracelets awarded, with Maksim Pisarenko taking down Event #45: $10K H.O.R.S.E. Championship, George Alexander scooping Event #50: $10,000 Razz Championship, and Erlend Melsom bagging Event #49: $3,000 Freezeout No-Limit Hold’em.
Event #46: $1,000 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship
The over 50s bracelet event is now down to just 26 contenders, $28,444 sewn up and all chasing the $677,326 first prize. Marc Seif is the only bracelet champion left in the field after the likes of Greg Raymer and Bill Chen fell by the wayside.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | |
| 1 | Marc Wolpert | USA | 17,900,000 | |
| 2 | Andrew Bradshaw | UK | 14,700,000 | |
| 3 | Shawn Stuart | USA | 12,275,000 | |
| 4 | Khang Pham | USA | 10,000,000 | |
| 5 | Ahmed Amin | USA | 9,400,000 | |
| 6 | Renmei Liu | Canada | 8,850,000 | |
| 7 | Ray Devita | Canada | 8,525,000 | |
| 8 | William Byrnes | USA | 8,525,000 | |
| 9 | Lavern Fross | USA | 8,125,000 | |
| 10 | Manfred Frick | Germany | 7,650,000 |
Event #52: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em (6-Handed)
Only 37 players remain from 817 entries and the man with a wonderful name for playing poker, Turbo Nguyen, leads the way in the chase for the $656,747 top prize.
2015 Main Event champ Joe McKeehen was among those fell before the money bubble, Scott Seiver among those who cashed but won’t be back for day 3, while German former pro footballer Max Kruse, a WSOP Europe bracelet winner, made it through both.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Turbo Nguyen | USA | 2,700,000 |
| 2 | Lucas Blanco | Spain | 2,645,000 |
| 3 | Georgios Sotiropoulos | Greece | 2,190,000 |
| 4 | Yang Zhang | China | 2,170,000 |
| 5 | Nenad Dukic | Serbia | 2,100,000 |
| 6 | Bogdan Munteanu | Romania | 1,800,005 |
| 7 | Jake Schwartz | USA | 1,690,000 |
| 8 | Ihar Soika | Belarus | 1,580,000 |
| 9 | Kharlin Sued | USA | 1,570,000 |
| 10 | Jose Latorre | Spain | 1,545,000 |
Event #53: $3,000 Nine Game Mixed (7-Handed)
Australia’s Ashish Gupta leads the final 16 chasing WSOP gold and the $215,982 top prize, with 2021 Main Event winner Koray Aldemir among the chasing pack.
The bubble burst yesterday when Kenny Hsiung was outdrawn by Nick Guagenti, with Shaun Deeb also cashing, in 43rd place for $6,080.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Ashish Gupta | Australia | 2,629,000 |
| 2 | Adam Friedman | USA | 1,814,000 |
| 3 | Scott Bohlman | USA | 1,538,000 |
| 4 | Warwick Mirzikinian | Australia | 1,420,000 |
| 5 | Yuri Dzivielevski | Brazil | 1,361,000 |
| 6 | Bradley Jansen | USA | 1,337,000 |
| 7 | Tomasz Gluszko | Poland | 1,007,000 |
| 8 | Nicholas Julia | USA | 809,000 |
| 9 | Richard Ashby | UK | 750,000 |
| 10 | Phillip Hui | USA | 700,000 |
Event #54: $1,500 Millionaire Maker No-Limit Hold’em
The first starting flight of this hugely popular event saw 2802 entries, among them 2009 Main Event champion Joe Cada and 2014 Main Event champion Martin Jacobson, as well as original Hendon Mobster Barny Boatman.
Austria’s Ori Elul leads the way but 2006 WSOP main Event champ Jamie Gold and EPT founder John Duthie both busted out early.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count | |
| 1 | Ori Elul | Austria | 673,500 | |
| 2 | Muaaz Gani | USA | 615,000 | |
| 3 | Philip Verel | USA | 573,000 | |
| 4 | Justin Belforti | USA | 453,500 | |
| 5 | Michael Hauptman | USA | 366,000 | |
| 6 | Shiina Okamoto | Japan | 365,500 | |
| 7 | Luis Dorneles | Brazil | 360,000 | |
| 8 | Liran Betito | Israel | 334,500 | |
| 9 | Felix Rabas | Austria | 330,000 | |
| 10 | Roman Korenev | Russia | 329,500 |
Event #56: $2,500 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball
Shaun Deeb had a fine opening day, bagging a top 10 stack in another record-breaking field of 371 entries. The prizepool sits at $825,475 with $177,045 up top, with Patrick Leonard still in the mix.
Notable bustouts included Barry Greenstein, Brian Yoon and newly-crowned WSOP hatrick winner, Christopher Vitch.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count |
| 1 | Ryan Ko | USA | 343,000 |
| 2 | Mark Roland | USA | 317,000 |
| 3 | Masayoshi Tanaka | Japan | 304,000 |
| 4 | Gary Benson | Australia | 280,000 |
| 5 | Nicolas Milgrom | France | 275,000 |
| 6 | Matthew Schreiber | USA | 267,000 |
| 7 | Shaun Deeb | USA | 254,000 |
| 8 | Jon Kyte | Norway | 252,000 |
| 9 | Chad Eveslage | USA | 243,000 |
| 10 | Kenta Shimotsu | Japan | 240,000 |
Today sees Event #57: $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em added to the multiple events playing out at Horseshoe and Paris casinos and we’ll bring you all the best of the news and action every day right here at VIP Grinders, so be sure to check in regularly!
- Get the best rakeback deals
- See the best poker promotions
- View the latest poker news
- Get the best No Deposit Poker Bonuses
- Benefit from the biggest poker bonus
- Calculate your rakeback with the rakeback calculator
Terms and conditions apply. New customer offer and 18+ only. Should you require help regarding your betting pattern, please visit www.begambleaware.org.
